短歌と英語版 Tanka in Japanese and Their English Versions: Mar. 2018
↑ムクドリ(椋鳥)福岡市博物館 ↑White-cheeked Starling (Spodiopsar cineraceus) in Fukuoka City Museum
地表から一メートルの空間を平泳ぎして行き交う人々
People swim breaststroke
In the air one metre
Above the ground
ぷしゅううと音が聞こえて見上げると月がどんどんしぼみつつあった
From the sky I heard
A sound as of leaking air:
The moon was shrivelling
うふふふと声がしたので振り向くと猫が片手を口に当てていた
A laughter from behind.
Turning around, I found a cat
With a paw on its mouth
気がつくと私はコインになっていていろんなところを渡り歩いた
Before I knew, I had
Become a coin, and from one place
To another I went
水の上で回っている独楽 さざ波も立てず静かに回り続ける
A top spinning
On the water, without
Rippling the surface
壺の中で私は目覚め立ち上がった 壺の口からちょうど顔が出た
I woke in a pot.
Standing up, my face was
Just above the pot’s mouth
町中の建物も人もゆらゆらと陽炎のように揺らめいている
All the buildings and
The people in the town are
Shimmering like haze
人間にトランペットのようなものを向けてひゅううと吸い込んでしまう
Levelling something
Like a trumpet, they suck up
A human through it
私を除いて全ての人々が人形になってしまった世界
All the people
Except me have become
Dolls and puppets
闇の中で集まった猫が薄緑に光っては消え光っては消える
Gathering in the dark,
The cats glow light green and cease
To light, repeatedly
雲のように大きなエイが上空を横切りしばし陽をかげらせた
Hiding the sun
For a while, a ray, as huge
As a cloud, crossed the sky
たまに空の端がめくられ巨大な目がのぞき込んでも誰も気にしない
Picking up the edge
Of the sky, a huge eye peeps in,
But no one seems to care
傘をさし雨の降る道でミュージカルの場面のように踊る人々
As in a musical,
All are dancing with umbrellas
On the rainy street
地面にでたミミズがくねくね動きながら大きくなってアザラシになった
Writhing and getting
Rapidly larger, the earthworm
Turned into a seal
半分の胴の長さの猫がいる 倍の長さの胴の猫もいる
Some of the cats have
Half-length trunks; others
Have double-length trunks
空腹を満たしたり暇をつぶしたりしながら何とか日を暮れさせる
Living is “making
The sun set,” by killing time or
Trying to quench hunger*
*In Japanese, there is a verb “kurasu,” which means to “live” or to “make a living,” but literally to “make the sun set.” Indeed, for some, life is to while away the daytime, but for others, it is an arduous endeavour to quench hunger and thirst until “tender night” lets them forget those needs with sleep.
昨日までは絵の具のチューブの中にいたが今日はあたりを這い回っている
Yesterday, it was
In a tube of paint, but today
It is crawling around
人格は同じでたまに身体だけ別人になる「多重身体」
“Multiple bodies:”
Personality remains same,
But the body does not
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